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Friday, June 26, 2009

SATURDAY 12TH WEEK ORDINARY TIME

JUNE 27, 2009MEMORIAL, CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP, DOCTORSATURDAY 12TH WEEK ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

GENESIS 18:1-15The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while hewas sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them,he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low tothe ground. He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, donot pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then youmay all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get yousomething to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way--nowthat you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "doas you say." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," hesaid, "get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake somebread." Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf andgave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought somecurds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set thesebefore them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. "Whereis your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said.Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time nextyear, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening atthe entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah werealready old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age ofchildbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I amworn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Thenthe LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I reallyhave a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? Iwill return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will havea son." Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." Buthe said, "Yes, you did laugh."

MATTHEW 8:5-17When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking forhelp. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and interrible suffering." Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." Thecenturion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under myroof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For Imyself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell thisone, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say tomy servant, `Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he wasastonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, Ihave not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to youthat many will come from the east and the west, and will take theirplaces at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom ofheaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, intothe darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." ThenJesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believedit would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. When Jesuscame into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bedwith a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she gotup and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with aword and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spokenthrough the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carriedour diseases."

REFLECTIONThe centurion was a man of stature. Yet he humbly recognized thatJesus' authority was far beyond his own. He was a man who probably hadseen much brutality throughout his life. Yet he still had genuineconcern for his sick servant. Perhaps what amazed Jesus the most wasthat the centurion had full confidence that his petition would begranted even before he asked. Many of Jesus' miracles had filledJesus' disciples with wonder and awe. Yet this is the first time weread that Jesus himself was amazed. Jesus' miracles were meant tobring his followers to have faith in him as the Son of God, yet somany remained obstinate in their disbelief. But a centurion, whoselife was given to war, who had never set foot in the Temple, orlistened to a discourse of a scribe, approaches Jesus with a maturefaith. When Jesus hears the centurion's words, he is amazed. Thissoldier, because of his humility, had grasped who Jesus is — somethingthat many who had spent so much time with him had yet to do. Perhaps,for this reason, we repeat the centurion's words during the Mass:"Lord, I am not worthy to receive you."